So how does one edit the first draft of a manuscript?

File: books-thrown-trashcan-open-metallic-trash-can-isolated-white-background-68614512.jpg (23KB, 394x450px) Image search: [Google]

23KB, 394x450px

and rewrite it from memory

Carefully

>>8656641
Can you post an excerpt here?

pls delete image, op :(

>>8656656
this guy isn't meming you btw

>>8656771
Seriously?? What's the theory behind that? Can I keep my old manuscript to draw ideas from and plug gaps the end?

>>8657505
he's half memeing.
Dont trash your manuscript, print it out and rewrite the entire thing, editing and making adjustments as you do so. Then trash it.

>>8656712
I have before, I will in the morning when I have my laptop with me so I can pull form the document.
I have to warn you though, it's a little rough at the beginning, I hadn't written anything in awhile.

I guess the main problem is not knowing if I should rework the whole thing or just retread what I've already written and hope to distill it into a better quality manuscript each time I do it.

>>8659181
Fix one page at a time until you are completely through it, then go back and repeat once more. Then, let someone else that you trust and who has ok knowledge on literature read it and give you a bit of critique.

If you want other people to read and enjoy it, then it doesn't matter how many times you edit and revise it yourself, other people are going to have to take a look at it and point out flaws that you have missed.

I don't know if you've gotten to that point, or how you handle critique, but if you're new to it, or just have a hard time handling it, just ask them to take it easy on the first go around, maybe starting with small things and just asking you a lot of questions to better understand things.

I usually find it more helpful myself when someone asks me questions because it shows me directly what I failed to clarify, or get across to my audience correctly.

>>8657505
You can throw it away and rewrite from memory/scratch. It means you only stick in the memorable bits, which also tend to be the important structural bits and the best lines and so on.

>>8656712
Alright, after looking at it I've discovered it's a lot rougher than I thought it would be. I guess I could probably polish it up pretty well by doing my own thing but I figure I'll post an excerpt here just because you asked.
I'll warn you, I was really rough when I started this, I feel like my writing improved greatly as I continued on with writing this and this part shows a lot of the bad.

Jason lit a cigarette. Taking a deep drag, he flicked away his match and closed his eyes, allowing himself to fade away into the moment. He let the smoke trail around him as he looked up at the quickly setting sun, watching as the light faded from the world.
“Aww, fuck.” He said releasing a heavy sigh.
Turning back towards the house he peered in through the screen door. He could hear a light scrapping as Daron split his coke up into lines, banging his card on the table he discarded it before grabbing his plastic straw and inhaling a line through his nose.
“Whew!” The man exclaimed. Slamming his hand on the table he shook his head back and forth, attempting to clear the burning feeling from his system.
“Come on Jakey, take some of this shit!” Daron called out to him.
Jake Cavernaugh, Jakey to the boys. That’s the name the Bureau had given him when they sent him undercover to find the coke source filing into Duluth. He had thought the name was a little too close to his own, but what did it matter? They would never find out it wasn’t his name, and if they did they wouldn’t have any reason to assume his actual name would be anything close to his assumed one.
Taking the straw in one hand Jason knelt down and sniffed a line up through the straw. God Damn was this stuff amazing. If only it weren’t illegal he could be a super cop on this shit, and for the time being, he was.
“So, when’s Frankie coming with the rest of this shit?” Jason asked. Tossing the straw on the table and lighting up another cigarette, not bothering to step outside this time.
“Soon, he said he had to swing through his guy’s house, hit the gas station, and he should be on his way.” Daron said, sniffing up another two lines. “Besides, we got enough for now.” As if to prove his point he gestured over to the bag filled with white powder sitting next to him.

>>8660637
It was true, they did have a fair amount of cocaine, but if he was going to make this bust he needed a hell of a lot more to justify the six months he’d spent bumming it with these fucks, stringing himself out in a dingy apartment building night after night.
“Not enough for me, man.” He said, sniffing loudly to drive his point home.
Daron snorted loudly, “You fucking addict.” He said with a laugh.
“Yeah, an addict.” Jason thought bitterly. He had been getting pretty far into this stuff, not a day had gone by in the last month where he hadn’t gotten shaky without this shit, and he knew that eventually, he was going to have to deal with it. He just hoped to God the boys in the Bureau didn’t find out.
He turned to look as the door opened, just in time to catch sight of a glock before it fired and Daron slumped over the table, his head bleeding out over the powder.
Jason jumped back against the wall, grabbing his pistol he fired at the motherfucker and missed.
Whoever it was took off running, and Jason gave chase. Ripping the door open he bolted on to the terrace and pursued down the steps.
“Damn, he’s fast.” Jason thought, looking around wildly for the shooter. It appeared he was gone however.
“FUCK!” Jason shouted. Looking around to make sure there weren’t any occupied cars in the parking lot. Grabbing his keys, he remote started his car and hopped in. Whoever that was, he didn’t feel like answering any questions while spun the fuck out to whichever squad inevietably was called in to handle the disturbance.
Resisting the urge to floor the gas pedal, Jason calmly pulled out of the parking lot and immediately hooked a right. Doing his best to maintain a calm disposure, Jason let the muscles in his face relax, and forced himself to glance out the window, as if he had noticed something interesting. Turning back to the road he reached out and flipped on the car’s radio, turning it to a random station he began humming along to the techno babble radiating from the stereo.
Pulling up to a stop light, Jason flicked his turn signal down to signal a left turn and waited for the light. Reaching into his jean pocket, he fished out his cellphone and unlocked the screen with a swipe of his thumb and pulled up the text message application. Selecting Daron’s name from the top of the message list he quickly typed out a message:
“Hey bro, you at the apartment? I was going to stop by.”
He hit send, and looking up, saw that the light had turned green. Accelerating, he took the left turn and made his way down the road, being mindful of his foot to keep from accelerating to fast in his heightened state. Despite this, he noticed he was still going about ten miles above the speed limit and forced himself to slow down.

>>8660640
“Alright, where to go, where to go?” He asked himself aloud. Absentmindedly, he began tapping his palms against the steering wheel like a drum.
His first instinct was to stop at a restaurant, but he quickly thought better of it. It was easier to pull teeth than to force himself to eat while on stimulants. He then considered a bar, but also decided against it.
“Yeah that’s all I need.” Jason thought to himself, “Wait for the coke to wear off so I can run into somebody shit-faced.” He shook his head, laughing at the thought despite his circumstances.

>>8656641
When I revise stuff I go through about 4 times:
1) remove garbage parts/add in clarification/fix unintentional ambiguity
2) revise diction; make sure every word you used has the exact connotation and denotation you desire
3) punctuation/grammar check
4) Overall read through/self critique if you edited it well and it's still garbage start over

The idea of rewriting it from memory is interesting but I'd suggest at the very least creating a third draft by merging the first and second. At least for me even in a short story there are dozens of subtle details that add to re-readings that would be lost.

The most practical way to create a new draft is to print it all out with double spacing then take a red pen and go through it all, crossing stuff out, rewriting and re-ordering it like you're a teacher correcting a student's essay.
Some writers also suggest putting the script aside for a month or two while you concentrate on something else so when you go to redraft it you're looking at it with fresh eyes and can better see it for what it is.

>>8660659
>putting it aside for a month or two while you concentrate on something else

That's what I'm doing right now, I feel like the new thing I'm doing is a lot better than the one I've completed and my writing is a lot better. I'm going to continue on with it and then go back to my old one to touch it up. It's a lot worse than I thought it'd be but I feel like I can mend it now that I've stepped away from it and begun something new.